Many of you are interested in tips on the endgame. You find you don’t know what to do when and endgame arises, find endgames elusive or even scary or even prefer to avoid them at all cost.

Now, I challenge you to indicate what it is you find so difficult, elusive or scary about endgames. You can use the commentary functionality below this post to do so if you still have questions about it after seeing this lesson. For now I’m going to try and take some of the misconceptions about endgames away.

Before we go into that, I want to try and define what constitutes an endgame. Normally we speak of an endgame when a lot of material has been exchanged and not a lot of material is left on the board. But where do we draw the line precisely? The fact that it is difficult to draw the line precisely should already take away some of the mystifying aspects of the endgame. I mean: WHEN are you starting to feel insecure exactly? When every side has two minor pieces or only one? When you have four pawns left or only three? I think you get my drift. Also it is not completely fair to say that an endgame is a position in which neither side has a queen anymore, since we also have queen endgames. However, for our purposes we are going to assume that:

an endgame is a chess position in which neither side has a queen left

But do keep in mind that there are queen endgames, and also positions we usually call queenless middle games when there are still lots of rooks and minor pieces on the board. Ok, having narrowed down the playing field a little, let’s tackle some possible misconceptions.

First of all: the goal of a chess game does not change with the appearance of an endgame! We still strive to checkmate our opponents king, if he does not resign before we get a chance to actually do so.

Second: the disappearance of the queens makes it easier for the kings to take place in the fight. And normally they should be brought into the game quickly, because quite often the king can gain a fighting power of five points, which is the equivalent of a rook! And believe me, that can really help to settle matters! Just remember lesson #9 in which this factor played a decisive role.

But ask yourself: what (if at all) makes you feel insecure about the disappearance of the queens? Do you feel for instance that you (should) handle your queen better than your opponent, and now you can’t show that anymore? If so, why?
Or do you just happen to like the idea of more tactical possibilities with queens on the board? And if so, what does that say about your objective approach to the game, an approach we also advocate here at Better Your Chess? Would you trade down to an endgame if it were winning, or rather not?
And how do you feel about playing with your king? Are you afraid to touch that piece and move it forward? If so, why?

I think answering these questions can give relevant food for thought.

OK, now I have some shocking news for you:

the fact that an endgame has arisen is of no consequence to what you learn here at Better Your Chess!

Isn’t that shocking? This means that in an endgame too you can still use the well-known tools of the Orientation and the Approaches, beit The Analytical Approach or the Planning Approach.

In endgames too there is normally a serious amount of tactics and also a number of positional factors that you can take into account when drawing up a plan. So my advice is: use your Better Your Chess toolbox to play the endgame also!

True, due to the fact that queens have been exchanged and kings tend to be centralized, some positional factors take precedence over others. Often we see that the endgame becomes a battle of eating each other’s pawns and trying to promote one of our own. But this still means that matters of material and of pawn structure (two of the areas of imbalance you check when using the Planning Approach) play an important role. And let’s not leave out activity here either!

So, if the position is tactical in nature, use the Analytical approach and if not the Planning Approach. And here too: fight to enhance you own positive imbalances and keep those of your opponent at bay. Remember: you are never playing alone, also not in an endgame!

OK, now let’s look at a few practical examples of endgame play in which these themes occur: